Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T12:26:53.876Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Quaternary Antarctic Bottom-Water History: Deep-Sea Benthonic Foraminiferal Evidence from the Southeast Indian Ocean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Bruce H. Corliss
Bruce H. Corliss*
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island 02881
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Distinct assemblages of Recent deep-sea benthonic foraminifera from the southeast Indian Ocean have been shown to be associated with Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) and Indian Bottom Water (IBW). The AABW assemblage is divided into two groups. One is dominated by Epistominella umbonifera and is associated with AABW having temperatures between −0.2° and 0.4°C. The second group is dominated by Globocassidulina subglobosa and is associated with AABW having temperatures between 0.6° and 0.8°C. The IBW assemblage is marked by the strong dominance of Uvigerina spp. and Epistominella exigua. The faunal-water-mass relationships have been used to infer the history of bottom-water circulation over the last 500,000 yr in this region using faunal data from four Eltanin cores. One core was taken from the Southeast Indian Ridge in association with IBW, and three were taken from the flank of the ridge associated with AABW flowing within a western boundary contour current in the South Australian Basin. Little faunal variation exists in the core beneath IBW (E48-22), indicating that IBW was present on the Southeast Indian Ridge during the last 300,000 yr. A record of the intensity of AABW circulation during the last 500,000 yr is inferred from the benthonic foraminiferal data in the three cores located within the western boundary contour current. Marked oscillations in the relative proportions of AABW and IBW faunal assemblages are found in one core, E48-03. The faunal variations are inferred to have resulted from variation in intensity of AABW circulation between 500,000 and 195,000 yr B.P. In E48-03, the AABW assemblage was present most of the time between 500,000 and 195,000 yr B.P., with low intensity of AABW circulation occurring primarily during the equivalent of stages 8 and 7 (t = 305,000 to 195,000 yr B.P.). The intensity of AABW circulation varied, with a maximum occurring during the equivalent of stage 11 (t = 420,000 yr B.P.). Two additional cores, E45-27 and E45–74, show relatively constant intensity of AABW circulation from 195,000 yr B.P. to the present. The intensity of AABW circulation at the present appears to be intermediate between a maximum during the equivalent of stage 11 (t = 420,000 yr B.P.) and the minimum during the equivalent of stage 8 (t = 275,000 yr B.P.). AABW production has occurred during both glacial and interglacial episodes. Bottom-water productivity has been suggested to play an important role in glacial/interglacial oscillations during the late Quaternary (Weyl, 1968; Newell, 1974). In this study, the relationship between bottom-water circulation and climatic fluctuations appears to be more complex than had been previously suggested, since a simple relationship between Quaternary bottom-water circulation and paleoclimatic fluctuations is not shown.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , September 1979 , pp. 271 - 289
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Corliss, B.H., 1978a. Recent deep-sea benthonic foraminiferal distributions in the southeast Indian Ocean: Inferred bottom water routes and ecological implications. Marine Geology. in press.Google Scholar
Corliss, B.H., 1978b. Taxonomy of Recent deep-sea benthonic foraminifera from the southeast Indian Ocean. Micropaleontology. in press.Google Scholar
Davies, T.A., Weser, O.E., Luyendyk, B.P., Kidd, R.B., (1975). Unconformities in the sediments of the Indian Ocean. Nature (London). 253, 15-19.Google Scholar
Douglas, R.G., Savin, S.M., (1973). Oxygen and carbon isotope analyses of Cretaceous and Tertiary foraminifera from the central North Pacific. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. 17, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C, 591-605.Google Scholar
Duplessy, J.C., Chenovard, L., Vila, F., (1975). Weyl's theory of glaciation supported by isotopic study of Norwegian core Kll. Science. 188, 1208-1209.Google Scholar
Emiliant, C., (1955). Pleistocene temperatures. Journal of Geology. 63, 538-578.Google Scholar
Gordon, A.L., (1974). Varieties and variability of Antarctic bottom water. Collagues Internationaux du CNRS. 215, 33-47.Google Scholar
Gordon, A.L., Molinelli, E., (1975) U.S.N.S. Eltanin Southern Ocean Oceanographic Atlas. Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, Palisades, N.Y. Google Scholar
Gordon, A.L., Tchernia, P., (1972). Waters of the continental margin off Adélie Coast, Antarctica. Antarctic Oceanology Two: The Australian-New Zealand Sector. Hays, D.E., Antarctic Research Series. Vol. 19, Amer. Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C, 59-60.Google Scholar
Hays, J.D., Imbrie, J., Shackleton, N.J., (1976). Variations in the earth's orbit: Pacemaker of the ice ages. Science. 194, 1121-1132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heezen, B.C., Tharp, M., Bentley, C.R., (1972). Morphology of the earth in the Antarctic and Subantarctic. American Geographical Society, Antarctic Map Folio Series. Folio 16.Google Scholar
Johnson, D.A., (1972). Ocean-floor erosion in the equatorial Pacific. Geological Society of American Bulletin. 83, 3121-3144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennett, J.P., (1970). Pleistocene paleoclimates and foraminiferal biostratigraphy in subantarctic deep-sea cores. Deep-Sea Research. 17, 125-140.Google Scholar
Kennett, J.P., Burns, R.E., Andrews, J.E., Churkin, M. Jr., Davies, T.A., Dumitrica, P., Edwards, A.R., Galehouse, J.S., Packham, G.H., van der Lingen, G.J., (1972). Australian-Antarctic continental drift, palaeocirculation changes and Oligocene deep-sea erosion. Nature Physical Science. 239, 91 51-55.Google Scholar
Kennett, J.P., Houtz, R.E., Andrews, P.B., Edwards, A.R., Gostin, 263.A., Hajos, M., Hampton, M.A., Jenkins, D.G., Margolis, S.264., Ovenshine, A.T., Perch Nielsen, K., (1974). Development of the Circum-Antarctic Current. Science. 186, 144-147.Google Scholar
Kennett, J.P., Watkins, N.D., (1975). Deep-sea erosion and manganese nodule development in the southeast Indian Ocean. Scienće. 188, 1011-1013.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kennett, J.P., Watkins, N.D., (1976). Regional deep-sea dynamic processes recorded by late Cenozoic sediments of the southeast Indian Ocean. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 87, 321-339.Google Scholar
Klovan, J.E., Imbrie, J., (1971). An algorithm and Fortran IV program for large scale Q-mode factor analysis. International Association for Mathematical Geology Journal. 3, 61-78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolla, 265., Sullivan, L., Streeter, S.S., Langseth, M., (1976). Spreading of Antarctic bottom water and its effects on the floor of the Indian Ocean inferred from bottom-water potential tempetature, turbidity, and sea-floor photography. Marine Geology. 21, 171-189.Google Scholar
Ledbetter, M., (1977). Abyssal Paleocirculation in the Vema Channel (Southwest Atlantic). Ph.D. Thesis. University of Rhode Island, Kingston. Google Scholar
Lohmann, G.P., (1977). Increased and decreased production of Atlantic deep water during ice ages: Benthonic foraminiferal evidence from the Vema Channel. Eos. 58, 6 416.Google Scholar
Lohmann, G.P., (1978). Abyssal benthonic foraminifera as hydrographic indicators in the western South Atlantic Ocean. Journal of Foraminiferal Research. 8, 1 6-34.Google Scholar
Mamaev, O.I., (1975) Temperature-Salinity Analysis of World Ocean Waters. Elsevier, Amsterdam, (R. J. Burton, Trans.).Google Scholar
Moore, T.C. Jr., van Andel, Tj.H., Sancetta, C., Pisias, N., (1978). Cenozoic hiatuses in pelagic sediments. Micropaleontology. 24, 2 113-138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newell, R.E., (1974). Changes in the poleward energy flux by the atmosphere and ocean as a possible cause for ice ages. Quaternary Research. 4, 117-127.Google Scholar
Phleger, F.B., Parker, F.L., Peirson, J.F., (1953). North Atlantic foraminifera. Reports of the Swedish Deep-Sea Expedition. 7, 1-122.Google Scholar
Rodman, M., (1977). Hydrology of the Southeast Indian-Antarctic Ocean. Ph.D. Thesis. Columbia University, New York. Google Scholar
Rona, P.A., (1973). Worldwide unconformities in marine sediments related to eustatic changes of sea level. Nature Physical Science. 244, 25-26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruddiman, W.F., (1971). Pleistocene sedimentation in the equatorial Atlantic: Stratigraphy and faunal paleoclimatology. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 82, 283-302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Savin, S.M., Douglas, R.G., Stehli, F.G., (1975). Tertiary marine paleotemperatures. Geological Society of American Bulletin. 86, 1499-1510.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schnitker, D., (1974). West Atlantic abyssal circulation during the past 120,000 years. Nature (London). 248, 5447 385-387.Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J., Kennett, J.P., 1975a. Paleo-temperature history of the Cenozoic and the initiation of Antarctic glaciation: Oxygen and carbon isotope analyses in DSDP Sites 277, 279, and 281. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. 29, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C, 743-755.Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J., Kennett, J.P., 1975b. Late Cenozoic oxygen and carbon isotopic changes at DSDP Site 284: Implications for glacial history of the northern hemisphere and Antarctica. Initial Reports of the Deep-Sea Drilling Project. 29, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C, 801-807.Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J., Opdyke, N.D., (1973). Oxygen isotope and paleomagnetic stratigraphy of equatorial Pacific core V28–238: Oxygen isotope temperatures and ice volumes on a 105 and 106 year scale Research. Quaternary Google Scholar
Streeter, S.S., (1973). Bottom water and benthonic foraminifera in the North Atlantic—Glacial-interglacial contrasts. Quaternary Research. 3, 131-141. 3, 39-55.Google Scholar
Vella, P., Watkins, N.D., (1978). Middle and late Quaternary paleomagnetism and biostratigraphy of four Subantarctic deep-sea cores from southwest of Australia. In preparation.Google Scholar
Weyl, P.K., (1968). The role of the oceans in climatic change: A theory of the ice ages. Meteorological Monographs. 8, 30 37-62.Google Scholar
Williams, D.F., (1976). Late Quaternary fluctuations of the Polar Front and subtropical convergence in the southeast Indian Ocean. Marine Micropaleontology. 1, 363-375.Google Scholar
Williams, D.F., Keany, J., (1978). Comparison of radiolarian/planktonic foraminiferal paleoceanography of the subantarctic Indian Ocean. Quaternary Research. 9, 71-86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar